Thursday, August 23, 2012

If You Shout the Loudest, More People Will Hear You. The Reason Why The Republican Party May Win Big This November

It is fair to say in the world we live in today we are
bombarded with a cacophony of many forms of media. All around us we are besieged
by information, news and opinion. With the growth of the Internet, the
traditional pillars of media, where we accessed information has sublimed into
countless forms from blogs to online talk shows to forums. In the past
Americans had access to only three stations and a smattering of local papers.
With it came a large, mostly non-migratory audience with which one could easily
influence. Who would think now that a simple editorial by news anchor Walter
Cronkite in 1968 about the Vietnam war would make LBJ say in private
despairingly “If I’ve lost Crokinte, I’ve lost middle America” X1.

Today audiences have atomized in to multiple, at times
migratory groups. Where some sort of consensus prevailed over large groups, now
the world is a friendly environment for like-minded people to react together,
fostering at times extreme views. That there are now so many of them means that
to be heard, to influence, to persuade (or denigrate, depending on your
opinion), one must shout above the raucous environment.

Right now in the United States conservatives, especially the
evangelical, Tea Party kind are shouting the most. Whether it is Rush Limbaugh,
Glenn Beck or Bill O’ Reilly, all they have in common is their ability to howl
or berate others. It riles some and in that process galvanizes others to their
cause. No matter what newspapers you read, blogs you look at or peruse through
the selected articles on websites like RealClearPolitics X2, what you see is a
mad, at times angry but certainly mobilized group of people. It is almost
primeval in intent but it is nonetheless effective, especially in this
increasingly polarized political environment.

The Republicans and their supporters are angry, fuelling
paranoia within about the threats a supposedly socialist, possibly un-American
President Obama creates for the nation. Whether it be about abortion, increased
government or medical “death panels”, they are compelling whipping boys in
influencing potential voters this coming November. The Democrats on the other
hand seem a disheartened bunch. Although passing (and later validated, somewhat
by the Supreme Court this June) probably their most cherished policy of
universal healthcare, they have been winded by the blows of the Tea Party two
years ago and have been slowly worn down since like water to a rock. They
certainly seem the defensive of the two parties and have not come out fighting
as hard as their rivals have.

Neither the President nor the Democratic Party has fully
latched on to issues as forcefully or evangelically as the GOP. When the Occupy
movement rose up last year, there was some meek support and weak notions of
association with the cause but nothing on a par with the Republican Party and
their visceral fear of government overreach and abortion. They are fearful of
taking a serious hold on major issues. The Affordable Healthcare Act is seen as
a poisoned chalice when it should not be. The reason why the Healthcare Act is
damaged goods to many Democrats is because the Republican Party have managed to
fashion the debate to their own cause and consistently attacked it while the
Democrats hide like townsfolk during a siege. Some fight has been found within
the President’s campaign after the nomination as Romney’s running mate of Paul
Ryan, forcefully campaigning that the Republican plans to gut the popular
Medicare. Nevertheless one feels that the Democrats and other liberal advocates
have been feeling disillusioned and not shouting loud and advocating their
policies enough. In the past and especially the Obama campaign of 2008,
Democrats and liberal groups were effective in getting people to the poll
booths but that is not enough. One must influence and then aid their movement
towards the poll booths.

Being able to shout the loudest has allowed the Republicans
to fashion the debate, whether it is misguided, deluded or just plain lies. They
have manhandled the loudspeaker at the town hall meeting and are shouting from
the rafters and some of those people at the back are nodding to what they say.
For this reason, the Democrats and liberals need to be more emboldened for the
sake of the election campaign. In some ways the actions of the Republicans and
conservatives is beneath them and any respectable individual but they need to
stand up more and raise their voice. If not, the Republican Party will win big
in November.